Thursday, July 17, 2014

These 71 Names Were So Bad That New Zealand Had To Ban Them

Original source : http://www.globalpost.com

Posted : May 2013

Author : Kyle Kim

What were these parents thinking?

You thought "Apple" and "Facebook" were
bad? Some New Zealand
parents were getting so creative devising unique names for their newborns that
the country's Department of Internal Affairs has stepped in to stop the
shenanigans.

New
Zealand released an official list of
rejected names on Wednesday that includes "4Real," "Mafia No
Fear" and "Anal." Other gems - like "." and
"*" - didn't even bother with the alphabet. All of the names on the
list were at some point proposed by parents, soon to be rejected by the
government, which deemed the names too offensive. In some cases, parents
appeared to have lost any inspiration for coming up with a moniker for their
offspring, naming the family's latest addition simply "2nd",
"3rd" or "5th." The department has also forbidden names
that might imply a child holds an official title or rank. That's why requests
to call children "King," "Duke" and "Princess"
have been turned down repeatedly since 2001.

New
Zealand isn't the only country where you
have to have your baby name approved. CNN reported Sweden has also axed names like
"Superman" and the inexplicable "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116."
While there's a fair debate to be had over parents' liberty to call their
childen whatever they please, we can't help but breathe a sigh of relief for
the babies who've narrowly avoided the childhood trauma of a truly bizarre name.
Seriously - could you imagine being the poor kid named "."?

Imagine
the first day of school:

Apple: "Hi, I'm Apple, and this is my friend
Facebook."

.: "Hi, I'm '.'"

Apple and Facebook look at each other awkwardly.

Apple: "Um, what?"

.: "In New
Zealand we say 'full stop.' You know, for
this -"(Child draws a period on a sheet of paper.)

Apple: "Well, in the US, we say 'period,' so I'm going
to call you that."

Apple and Facebook giggle mercilessly.

Here are 71 of New Zealand's banned names, along
with the number of times they were rejected in the past 12 years or so: